Archive for December, 2009
In just over a year we’ve entered what may some day be called the “app bubble.” Like the dot com bubble and other obsessions of the past, app sales are growing by leaps and bounds, app developers are making money - though individual developers are advised to keep their day jobs. Apps are the greenest of the green shoots in today’s gloomy economic climate. It shows that no matter how bad things get, there’s always something for the optimists club to highlight.
The app, something you can’t hold or hug or eat, has become the darling of the software world while other computer programming jobs falter. Reports indicate that Apple has more than 100,000 apps in its app store with around two billion downloads in just over a year of existence. Technically, the app world is an egalitarian place, leveling the playing field between an individual and a large corporation. Anyone can write an app and technically every app has a shot at topping the app charts. But it turns out the bigger corporations have more expertise and marketing savvy to out app the individuals or simply buy them up. Why do the big fish always win?
Regardless, indications are that in 2010, the mobile apps marketplace will grow significantly as more advertisers commit their budgets to this. Some think that Apple’s app store could have 300,000 apps by the end of 2010 while android apps will go from 20,000 now to about 100,000. At the same time some analysts predict 2010 will be the “tipping point” for the app world. Should all the old apps be forgot and … well, never mind. Happy New Year.
What comes to mind when someone says German engineering? Belgian chocolates? Milan? Paris? Brand experts such as Martin Lindstrom believe we have all formed certain notions about countries and the products that are made in them. Our imagination conjures up different images for cars engineered in Germany than cars engineered in say, Burundi. The “Made in China” label means something different than the “Made in the USA” label. Humans automatically make judgments about the quality, reliability and price of the goods based on the country on the label. French perfume is not Japanese perfume. Cuban cigars are not Hungarian cigars. Denmark isn’t known for its mangoes and Mexico isn’t known for its sleek contemporary designs.
Lindstrom advances the argument that the “made in” label is a key aspect of a product’s marketability. Marketing will be easier with the correct country on the label. Consumer electronics from Japan more easily inspire confidence than these same products from New Zealand even though there might not be any difference at all. In light of these perceptions, Lindstrom is among those who encourage product designers to consider the country of origin as part of the branding strategy.
But while it may be wise to do so, the rules aren’t as hard and fast in today’s global economy. Hyundai automobiles are made in the USA. Nike was once affiliated with a Japanese track shoe company until its own label evolved. And really, Nike merchandise is made in many places. Then there is Finland where a couple of guys started a pulp manufacturing company in 1865. They would later go on to manufacture rubber boots and bicycle tires among other things. The company would eventually take its name from a town where the name meant “small dark-furred animal.” We know it as Nokia, the mobile phone brand that possibly changed our perception of the country.
Well, if you had a billion dollars at the beginning of the year, chances are you have less now. But if you had a billion dollars now, the marketplace is overflowing with stuff to help you live large. That’s because the downturn of 2009 has left the world’s billionaires scrambling to unload their champagne wishes and caviar dreams-come-true. If you had a billion dollars, you could buy your loved ones a yacht. But not any yacht. You could buy the 164-footer Mangusta 165 from James Packer who inherited his dad’s media fortune only to lose $3.2 billion of it. Asking price is $34 million but it’s a buyer’s market.
If you had billion dollars, you could by an exotic property, like a private Caribbean island in the Turks and Caicos, listed at $75 million. But owner, Tim Blixeth, who originally sold donkeys and timberland (not the shoes), is rumored to be considering trades. His ex-wife is also selling a castle in France for $75 million. But even if you have a billion dollars, you couldn’t buy Veronica Hearst’s 52-room, Florida mansion. It was foreclosed and sold for $22 million at an auction.
If you had a billion dollars, you wouldn’t have to fly coach anymore. You’d buy one of several Gulfstream jets because it costs more. A cheaper one is $28.5 million while another is around $50 million, thanks to billionaire divorces and reversals of fortune. If you had that billion dollars you could buy a hotel in Turkey for $200 million, a bargain against the previous asking price of $350 million. You could buy the soccer team owned by Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, who isn’t as his name suggests, a golfer, but was a bank owner and reigned as the second richest man in Icelandic history. But if you really had a billion dollars, you’d be rich.
Who studied music and English too? Who gives tech advice to me and you? Who took computer science at Yale? Mr. David Pogue. Who teaches classes in magic tricks? Who works on Broadway shows for kicks? Who’s written Dummies how to books? Mr. David Pogue. Okay, so the point is that David Pogue, personal technology columnist for the New York Times is a brilliant guy with a diverse range of education, experience and passion, along with a love for puns. He knows his stuff and anyone looking to extend their knowledge of technology over the Christmas shopping season would do well to listen to Pogue’s take on all things techno. This time he takes liberties with Clement Clark Moore’s poem.
“Like this! It’s a Nikon - I know, right? Big deal.
You call this a breakthrough? A camera? Get real!
But this one performs a spectacular stunt:
A tiny projector’s built right in the front!
For slideshows, the regular screen is too small,
But now you can point at a ceiling or wall!”
In addition to the aforementioned Nikon Coolpix, Pogue also recommends, MiFi or portable online for a fee, which he thinks is just fine because, “It is totally cool to be always online!” He likes the receipt scanner gizmo as well. “It studies the scan, fills the blanks one by one, Then spits out the finished report . . . and you’re done!” Then there are those Freehand gloves with trapdoors that free your fingers for touchscreen handling outdoors in the cold plus the Sonos S5 wireless speakers. And here is more:
If your loved one could stand to get slightly more fit,
But needs motivation, well, friends, this is it.
The Philips DirectLife, a wearable thing,
That measures your daily activity - bling!
It comes with a charger, a small USB,
That transfers your data to Mac or PC.
You follow your progress online, an approach
That’s assisted by tips from a personal coach.
Happy Christmas to all …. See the video here
It was 1984 when the movie “Revenge of the Nerds” hit the screens and the character Gilbert Lowe famously defends nerdiness. “I just wanted to say that I’m a nerd, and I’m here tonight to stand up for the rights of other nerds. I mean uh, all our lives we’ve been laughed at and made to feel inferior. And tonight, those bastards, they trashed our house. Why? Cause we’re smart? Cause we look different? Well, we’re not. I’m a nerd, and uh, I’m pretty proud of it.” It may or may not have been the turning point where nerds and geeks evolved into a certain coolness of being. But now some are saying Geek and Nerd the word, should be banned from the common lexicon.
While all sorts of non-geeky, non-nerdy folks are trying to claim the definition for themselves, psychologist David Anderegg says while nerds and geeks, the people are fine, upstanding and sought after, nerd and geek the words are equivalent to racial epithets. “A geek suggests a person with special expertise, while nerds suggests social ineptness. And neither are cool,” says he. Send these words to the “linguistic dustbin,” and society will be better off because the science and technology fields won’t be avoided like the plague by those popular kids who associate such careers with the negative stereotype.
Dr. Anderegg wrote a book, “Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them.” He makes the case that “no educated person” would tolerate jokes about race, gender or sexual orientation but we all freely aim disparaging words at nerds. And though it isn’t quite sticks and stones, feelings are hurt over this. This is interesting food for thought for all who are buying their kids gifts at Santa’s Geek Shop at Tigerdirect.com.
It is thought that if you walk in a straight line around the world you will end up where you began – technically. But if you walk in a squiggly line, that’s where the adventure truly begins. It isn’t known if Matteo Pericoli gave much thought to the straight line versus the squiggly line but he has definitely put much thought into the world according to lines. More specifically, New York according to lines. Pericoli, an architect turned artist composed a book of line drawings representing the views from famous New Yorkers windows.
While others looking through a window might see color, depth and heft, possibly ignoring uninteresting features of the view, Pericoli looked through each window and saw lines. In his view, a line isn’t so much about what you see but rather about what you think. And more important, when Pericoli is drawing, he thinks of every line as a word. The artist is performing a selection of possible lines to tell the story. “If you do too many, you’ve lost the person who is listening or reading. If you use too few, you lose important details.”
The artist also approaches his subjects with the proverbial eagle eye and also with a certain egalitarian eye. His buildings aren’t drawn to scale. As he sees it, when you return from a vacation in Rome, you are likely to view the palace with as much importance as the pizzeria. Though dedicated foodies might just think that the pizzeria is more equal than others. Regardless, Pericoli and the subjects whose window views he has drawn, tend to think of the view as something personal, almost like a companion. Some even refused to let him draw their views because it is too personal.
The images on this post are from Matteo Pericoli’s web site and Facebook page.